and _Unadilla_,
built for war service, the other seven being merchant steamers
converted into men-of-war. The Confederate squadron consisted of only
two vessels, both iron-clads, the _Palmetto State_ and _Chicora_,
which received no damage whatever during the engagement, either to
their hulls, machinery, or crew, whilst several of the ten Federal
wooden vessels were seriously injured, though none of them were sunk,
their escape from capture or destruction being due to the swiftness of
their flight. Their loss was twenty-five killed and twenty-two
wounded.

The blockade of Charleston harbor was soon, indeed immediately,
re-established, and kept up by the armored frigate _New Ironsides_ and
a number of heavy "Monitors." There was, from the end of this battle
to the evacuation of Charleston by the Confederates, no time when
there would have been the least probability of the success of another
dash by the Confederate vessels in the harbor upon the Federal
squadron blockading.

In the month of February, 1863, Tucker was promoted to the rank of
Captain in the Provisional Navy of the Confederate States, and in
March following was appointed Flag Officer of the Confederate Forces
Afloat at Charleston, the _Chicora_ bearing his flag.

On the 7th of April, 1863, Admiral Dupont made his attack on
Charleston, with a squadron consisting of the armored frigate _New
Ironsides_ and eight "Monitors." Tucker, with his usual good judgment,
held the _Chicora_ and _Palmetto State_, aided by a number of rowboats
armed with torpedoes, ready to make a desperate and final assault upon
the Federal squadron if it should succeed in passing the Confederate
forts guarding the entrance to the harbor. Admiral Dupont's squadron
was repulsed by the forts, and the Confederate squadron was not
engaged.

The Confederate naval forces afloat at Charleston did not possess
either the strength or swiftness necessary for an attack on the
Federal blockading squadron with any reasonable prospect of success,
and Tucker therefore turned his attention to attacks by means of
torpedo-boats fitted out from his squadron. On the 5th of October,
1863, Lieutenant W.T. Glassell, with a small double-ender steam
torpedo-boat, made an attempt to sink the _New Ironsides_, lying off
Morris' Island. The _New Ironsides_ was not sunk, but she was
seriously damaged and was sent North for repairs. The torpedo-boat was
filled with water, and her commander, pilot, and engineer, al